House Beautiful: Red barn, green charm (with video)

Grania Litwin, Times Colonist03.21.2012

Completed in just two months, the renovation cost $80,000, including $30,000 to rebuild the foundation. The yellow house in the background is the main home on the property, where one of the owners' mothers lives.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

Owners Nicole Chaland and David Lennam hired Landeca, an Integrated Property Services firm, to design and undertake the renovation.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

City Green Solutions, a local nonprofit, did an energy assessment before and after the reno. The home now has an energy rating of 79, which is better than some new houses.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

Looking out into the yard from the dining room.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

The wood countertops are made from recycled bowling lanes. Most of the appliances and the farmhouse sink came from Ikea as did all of the cupboards, which were trimmed by Landeca carpenters for a custom look.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

Kitchen counters are recycled lanes from a bowling alley, while stainless shelving has an industrial look.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

Most of the appliancees are small and came from IKEA -- and so did the farmhouse sink, which cost $220 compared to $700 for other versions. Her cupboards are from IKEA too, and have a 25-year warranty.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

A wall next to the oven is decorated with a still life of trays, mostly from Value Village.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

Two cozy armchairs nestle by the gas fireplace in a home that's tailor-made for this couple. A large painting of a moose, with Hudson's Bay signature stripes, is by Victoria artist Wilson Hoey, while other colourful works are mostly by owner Nicole Chaland.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

Many reclaimed elements were used in the renovation, including a new beam (above) that runs the length of the house that came from the old Walmart building.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

The two interior doors are hung from modern barn door sliders.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

Above: A chandelier over the harvest table is a cluster of mason jars found at etsy.com, a website that buys and sells handmade and vintage items.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

The bathroom features a bright blue shower and broad sink with low, modern tap.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

The second storey floors are original and are warmed by a gas fireplace below. In the evening, light glints up between the cracks, adding to the heritage ambiance. French doors lead onto a sunny deck.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

The owners' office has raised seating because the windows were long ago set high in the wall. Also, Chaland likes to stand when she works. Drawers are industrial red metal, more commonly seen in garages.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

A small seating area opposite the office is tucked under a skylight for reading, as is the soaker tub. The floor slopes slightly, so the owners never fill the tub right up.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

Another view of upstairs bedroom, with free-standing tub and doors out to a deck.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

Looking down the stairs, a visitor can see one of Chaland's paintings on the wall and the long harvest table in the kitchen.Frances Litman
/ Times Colonist

Related

Imagine walking down a narrow lane just a few paces east of Cook Street Village and suddenly seeing a small red barn dating back to 1890 - that's what Nicole Chaland and David Lennam did two years ago.

They were looking for a place to live with his mother Una, 84, so they could care for her in her later years.

"We wanted to live together - but not together together," said Chaland, adding neither of them wanted to be in a dark basement suite.

So they were scoping properties near the village, looking for a home advertised with a carriage house.

"It ended up being more like a shed," she recalled, but as they were leaving, a man across the street came out of his house and suggested they look at his place. It wasn't listed, but had a red barn out back with a legal suite, and was accessed via a lane.

It turned out the house was ideal for Mom - "a delightful, immaculate dollhouse," Lennam said - and the barn was perfect for them. More than a century old, it had once accommodated four horse stalls and a large hay loft. Chaland immediately saw its potential as a tailor-made space for their ultra-green lifestyle.

Today, thanks to her vision, it is a unique 1,000-square-foot home with a welcoming country kitchen and serene, open-concept master bedroom and office upstairs.

The kitchen countertops are made out of wood from old bowling lanes. The floors are recycled planks and the giant harvest table used wood from the old Walmart store.

It all began when the duo picked up crowbars and sledgehammers, invited some friends over and began the demolition. Reconstruction started in the fall of 2010 and the work was completed in just two months. They moved in Dec. 23 and had 14 guests for Christmas dinner.

Lennam, who is a freelance writer, gives full credit to Chaland for the transformation from barn to glowing example of modern sustainability.

"I wasn't really concerned about the environment until I met Nicole," Lennam said.

'Nicole took the lead on the design and Landeca [a Victoria integrated property service company] had the skills," Lennam said.

"They were very good at going along with and enhancing everything she suggested. And their unbelievable craftsman - James McDonald - is a perfectionist par excellence. We now have a custom home at a price we could afford."

Chaland, a gourmet chef with a leaning toward French-Canadian cuisine, is program director of Sustainable Community Development at Simon Fraser University. Her passion for community development, affordable housing and the integration of ecological and economic practices is evident in the home's every detail.

The wood once lined a bowling lane in Nanaimo. She found it at Demxx Deconstruction, a demolition and salvage company in Coombs. Today, finished with tung (Chinese nut) oil, it looks like a thick slab of butter.

The new flooring is made from recycled planks in extra-long lengths, some measuring up to 14 feet. Glulam trusses reclaimed from the old Walmart store were used to make their harvest table and bench. (Glulam is a structural composite made from dimensional lumber that is glued together.)

A new structural beam in the kitchen also came from the former Town and Country mall demo.

One of the most appealing features on the main floor is the newly exposed, original ceiling that they uncovered beneath the drywall.

The new, eye-catching nine-foot-high, tri-fold door looks expensive. But, bought at Lumberworld, it's the value version of a Nana Wall folding glass system. It connects the kitchen and garden, adding 800 square feet of living space on warm days.

The only two interior doors are hung from modern barn sliders.

Shopping around for appliances saved money and ensured satisfaction. Chaland put 30 hours of research into buying her cooktop alone. She eventually chose a Bosch because of its high-powered gas burner, which puts out 22,000 BTU.

"It boils water super fast, but also has two lower burners which go down to a true simmer for melting chocolate or making a béchamel, and two medium burners, too," she said.

Other appliances are small and came from Ikea. "The wild thing about buying there is that they have five-year warranties," she said.

Chaland even found her farmhouse sink at Ikea. It cost $220 compared to $700 for other versions. Her cupboards, also from Ikea, came with a 25-year warranty.

The couple wanted to keep the barn's rustic feel, which ended up being easier than they thought.

"I wish more people could build like this," she said, giving a lot of credit to Landeca. Many colleagues, she said, have left the city because of high housing prices.

The home is simple and inviting. Even Lennam's mom is delighted. At first, she was unsettled in her new digs and missed her old neighbourhood. But now she is "perfectly happy" and thinks what they have done to the barn is "tremendous and exciting."

The main floor is all country kitchen, except for a walk-in closet measuring six feet by 14 feet.

Upstairs is a large bedroom with freestanding tub, compact bathroom and office.

'The design elements are entirely Nicole's, based on how she knew we'd use the space," said Lennam.

"You don't normally have an opportunity like this, unless building completely brand new. But renovating an old barn made it affordable.

"You don't have to be some kind of millionaire to do this," he said.

The project ended up costing about $80,000 - and that was higher than anticipated because the barn needed a new $30,000 foundation.

"When we took up the carpet and the old plywood, we found the floor had buckled and looked like the Sea of Japan," he said with a groan.

In any reno, there is always an element of surprise, said Landeca owner Michael Dingle.

"We knew the building had had some historic settling, but we discovered the foundation was in complete disrepair. There was a large chasm in the middle and we needed new footings, including one under a new main post in the kitchen.

"Renovation is the noble part of the construction and design business, but it's a tough practice because of all the unknowns involved," he said.

"When we met the owners, I knew immediately we were interested in the same things. This is true infill development and it's as sustainable as it gets," Dingle said.

"It's great working with people who have a clear vision and direction, when everyone's goals and values are aligned. They wanted a contemporary space, but they were keen on authenticity and interested in sourcing reclaimed materials, which takes time and has many nuances associated with it."

He said his project leader, James McDonald - the craftsman praised by Lennam - is a rare mix of professional journeyman carpenter and detailed designer.

"He spent hours working the recycled materials to make them serviceable, particularly the solid-surface bowling-alley countertops, which were filled with nails. He was the superstar on this project."

Dingle said the next job is to help the owners create a productive garden.

"They are very interested in growing food. That's on the plate for spring."

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